The Challenge
The council’s existing site had a few recurring pain points:
Cluttered navigation, buried content. Key information sat below the fold. The workaround – cramming more into the top navigation – had made the site feel overwhelming rather than helpful.
Events were difficult to promote. The council runs popular community events including the Sunninghill Street Fayre and Party in the Park. Getting event information onto the homepage was a manual struggle, and the event pages themselves felt flat.
An unreliable page builder setup. The team had been using Elementor for more visually engaging pages, but their previous hosting provider’s difficult relationship with the plugin meant every update risked breaking pages – a recurring and time-consuming headache.
No layout flexibility. Different content – a community event, a planning notice, a support hub – deserved different presentations. The old system couldn’t accommodate that.
What We Delivered
We rebuilt the site on a stable, modern WordPress foundation with full page-builder flexibility, giving the team the tools to design each page around its content.
Visual, above-the-fold homepage – upcoming meetings, latest news, and community events surfaced without residents having to dig for them.
Clean, structured navigation – reorganised around four clear areas: Council, Parish, News, and Community.
Flexible event pages – each event can be designed to feel distinctive and engaging, with no risk of a platform update undoing the work.
Easy document publishing — parish councils are legally required to publish agendas, minutes, financial reports, and policies on a regular cycle. The new site makes this quick and straightforward, with no page-editing knowledge required.
Councillor management — membership changes regularly. The new system makes it easy to update biographies, photos, and committee responsibilities without touching the wider page design.
Built-in accessibility toolbar — reflecting the council’s duty to serve all residents, from day one.
The Result
The council now has a website that genuinely reflects the community it serves – visual, clear, and manageable without technical expertise. The team can promote events with confidence, keep residents informed, and run the site themselves.